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| Volume 4, Number 9, Article 8, Pages 764-778 |
doi:10.1167/4.9.8 |
http://journalofvision.org/4/9/8/ |
ISSN 1534-7362 |
Color constancy under changes in reflected illumination
Peter B. Delahunt |
Department of Ophthalmology and Section of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, University of California Davis, CA, USA |
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David H. Brainard |
Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA |
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Abstract
Distinct physical processes can change the spectrum
of the illumination that impinges on a surface. Here we consider two such
changes. The first is a change in the spectrum of the light source that provides
the scene illumination (light source
change). The second is a change in the reflectance of a surface located
near a test surface of interest (reflected
light change). A color constant visual system must compensate for changes
caused by both of these physical processes. We report measurements of constancy
with respect to reflected light changes and compare them to results from a
recent experiment that examines constancy across light source changes. Observers
viewed synthetic images rendered from three-dimensional scene descriptions and
displayed on a CRT-based stereoscope. They made achromatic adjustments to test
surfaces embedded in the images. The degree of constancy varied with the color
direction of the illuminant change, and the variation was similar for reflected
light and light source changes. The overall level of constancy was lower for
reflected light changes than for light source changes. A second experiment
suggests that for our conditions, constancy across reflected light changes is
driven almost entirely by changes in the local surround of the test. In a third
experiment, observers made asymmetric matches across both types of illuminant
change. Here the matches were essentially identical across both types of
illuminant change.
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